The invention generally pertains to a workpiece retaining clamp and more particularly to a clamp mounting system.
Various locking pin clamps have been used for vehicular assembly. Exemplary conventional constructions are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. No. 8,001,673 entitled “Clamping Device for Vehicle Body Transfer Cart” which issued to Hur on Aug. 23, 2011; U.S. Pat. No. 7,469,473 entitled “Assembly Line Vehicle Body Positioning” which issued to Savoy on Dec. 30, 2008; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,687,971 entitled “Vehicle Body Transfer Machine and Method Thereof” which issued to Nakamura on Feb. 10, 2004. Another tradition example is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0030924 entitled “Vehicular Body Assembly Locking Apparatus and Method” which published to Kilibarda et al. on Feb. 9, 2012. These patents and application are all incorporated by reference herein. Conventional mounting and alignment of such clamps is time consuming and expensive. For example, many additional mounting brackets and fasteners are employed to orient conventional clamps relative to risers, pillars or locators. Furthermore, these traditional clamps are often difficult to place in differing orientations relative to the riser. Since many pin clamps are used on each assembly plant trolley or moving pallet, these extra mounting brackets collectively add considerable weight, part cost and set up time.
In accordance with the present invention, a single mounting device is provided for each trolley riser for use with a set of shims in order to accurately align and secure a clamp to a datum. In another aspect, a generally polyhedron-shaped clamp body is used with a mounting plate to secure a clamp in different orientations relative to a manufacturing plant locator. Still another aspect provides a blade extension and mounting plate attachment between a cylindrically shaped clamp housing and a datum. A reconfigurable extension kit is also employed with a pin clamp. Moreover, a method of assembling a clamp to a trolley is disclosed.
The present clamp mounting system is advantageous over conventional approaches since the present system does not require additional mounting brackets. Furthermore, the single mounting plate per structural riser allows for side or bottom mounting along vertical or horizontal datum surfaces. Additionally, the present system advantageously tightly fastens the clamp assembly against the mounting plate side walls with a single diagonal fastener, with optional shims in between. The generally symmetrical design of the clamp body allows for different clamp orientations relative to the mounting plate and structural datum, which provides for greater locational flexibility and reduced obstruction for optical sensing and workpieces during clamp alignment and clamping usage. Moreover, the present clamp mounting system reduces part costs, part weight and assembly time. Additional advantages and features of the present invention can be ascertained from the following description and claims as well as the appended drawings.